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Portuguese paedophiles named in Maddie case

Data about the English was hidden from the process, but no secrecy was requested for Portuguese suspects

by Tânia Laranjo

The PJ investigated 15 sexual abusers from the city of Portimão, within the Maddie case. All of them are reintegrated and only one was in prison again at the date. Contrary to the English paedophiles who were investigated during this inquiry, whose elements are blocked by judicial secrecy, the data of the Portuguese are public.

The decision to remove the English predators’ dossier from the process was not applied to the cases that involved Portuguese citizens. In the first volume, there is a report of an external diligence in which the PJ runs an exhaustive analysis on the life of 15 individuals who reside in Portimão and have been referenced over sexual practises with children or adolescents.

As far as the Portuguese paedophiles are concerned, six investigators searched for the trail of the suspects and checked whether or not it was possible for them to have been involved in the little girl’s disappearance. In none of the situations any clue was discovered, and the authorities verified that they all reside in Portimão – except for one, who was in prison – and were integrated.

There was even one case, in a real estate agency, where owner and employee had already been involved in cases of paedophilia. But none of them had been in Luz on the night of the 3rd of May, the date when Maddie was seen for the last time.

Apart from that service information which was compiled by the PJ, other sex predators were checked out. Some of them Portuguese, but also English, who were denounced by various means.

Information exchange

When the possibility of the process being archived was mentioned – with the immediate breaking of the judicial secrecy – the English rushed to Portimão. At the court, they requested for some parts of the process to remain under secrecy, defending that the same should prevail concerning the exchange of information between both countries. The data that covered the paedophiles was one of those preoccupations. The requests were granted and the dossier was kept in the office of the prosecutor who was responsible for the case.

Algarvians want the list made public

The Algarvians are indignant at the fact that the list of English paedophiles that reside in Southern Portugal is being hidden from the PJ. The general feeling is that at least the national authorities should have access to the list with the names of condemned individuals.

This is the case of Carina Encarnação, aged 24, and a student at the Algarve University, who says that “the police must know about this matter; it has to be divulged”.

On the other hand, António Vasco, a personal trainer, aged 39, when confronted with the information that CM advanced in its Sunday edition, was surprised and “speechless”, even more so because, as he mentions, “the PJ’s obligation is to find out about everything”. With quite firm opinions about the matter, he also considers the possibility that if the list is being held back by the Attorney General’s Office, that is because “the prosecutor probably doesn’t want the list to be known”. And he fails to understand the reason for the secrecy.

For Verónica Soares, aged 23, a student, “it makes no sense that in a matter of such importance, the PJ is denied access to the informations”.

For Joaquim Amaral, aged 80, retired, this is not a “strange” case, which he says with some irony.

“In every two Englishmen, there are three paedophiles”, he says, in a critical tone about Her Majesty’s subjects. And therefore, “it’s obligatory for the police to have immediate access” to the evidence, he defends.

Parents advanced abduction theory

The abduction theory, which was immediately advanced by the parents, was based on the possibility that the little girl might have been taken by a paedophile network.

All possibilities were evaluated by the Polícia Judiciária, but nothing was confirmed. No suspect was found, residing in the Algarve, who ever crossed paths with Maddie. There was even the case of an English paedophile who asserted that abduction for paedophilia was impossible, because the little girl was too young.

PJ tried to collect residues in the bedroom

The Polícia Judiciária collected several residues at the Ocean Club, in the village of Luz.

The technicians searched for fingerprints, DNA records, but nothing was found. The only vestige that was found inside the bedroom where Maddie disappeared from, matched another child that had been on holidays there, a few months before.

Profiles matched suspicions

The profiles of Robert Murat and Sergey Malinka were a “perfect” match for potential suspects over the abduction of Maddie.

Robert Murat was the overly helpful translator who had even tried, at a given moment, to find out details about the process during the questionings that he assisted. On the other hand, a witness that said he knew him as a child, also spoke about suspicions of sexual abuse, which led the PJ to admit that he might be part of a paedophile network.

His Russian friend, Sergey Malinka, with whom he had contacted on the night the little English girl disappeared, also had a past that raised serious doubts with the Portuguese investigators. In the phone taps that he was subject to, the Judiciária even admitted that Malinka could be entertaining an overly close relationship with an underage girl.

At the time, the English experts asserted that both fit the profile of possible sex predators.

Details

English Dogs – The evidence that was collected by the dogs that detected cadaver odour and traces of blood were sent to the English lab, which is considered to be one of the world’s best. But experts never managed to precisely determine the collected DNA, although it was similar to that of the English girl.

Initial collaboration – During the first few months, the English showed an almost limitless collaboration with the Polícia Judiciária. But after Maddie’s parents were made arguidos, the discomfort with the investigation became visible.

Anniversary – The anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance is not to be celebrated in Praia da Luz. The parents, Kate and Gerry, chose to participate in an American television programme.

Preventive measures – Some of the English paedophilia suspects spoke to the English authorities to inform them about their activities on the days before and after Maddie’s disappearance. They did this as in a preventive manner.

Locked dossier – The dossier that contains the paedophiles’ data is not accessible, not even for the PJ, that could use the data to investigate cases involving Portuguese children.

I checked my copy of the DVD files, and the fact is that I found a mention of the diligence involving the investigation of paedophiles in the Portimão area, in the index that is published on page 4518 of the process (volume 17).

But it is also a fact that my copy of the DVD, which is similar to those that were distributed to journalists during the summer of 2008, omits pages 293 - 300 in volume 2, where supposedly the information about the Portuguese paedophiles is published.

I add this info for the sake of more complete information, not to refute Correio da Manhã's article in any manner.

Portuguese paedophiles named in Maddie case
Reviewed by astro
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2 comments:

"When the possibility of the process being archived was mentioned – with the immediate breaking of the judicial secrecy – the English rushed to Portimão. At the court, they requested for some parts of the process to remain under secrecy, defending that the same should prevail concerning the exchange of information between both countries. The data that covered the paedophiles was one of those preoccupations. The requests were granted and the dossier was kept in the office of the prosecutor who was responsible for the case." - What else have the English requested to be removed from the process and Why? And what about the Portuguese Children? This data should be released to the Portuguese authorities.